The famous Great Wall of China, which was built to keep the China’s horse-riding neighbors at bay, extends more than 2,000 kilometers across China, from Heilongjiang province by Korea to China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang. This lesson will investigate the building of the Great Wall during the Ming Dynasty, and will utilize the story of the wall as a tool for introducing students to one period in the rich history of China.

From the White House of Yesterday to the White House of Today (3 Lessons)

Tools

The Unit

Overview

It is perhaps curious that a republic would permit so opulent a residence for its elected head of state, but a public tally did not make the decision. George Washington approved the White House. His expressed wishes included not only the stone construction but extensive stone ornamentation as well.—From the White House Historical Society website, a link from the EDSITEment resource Explore DC

The “President's House,” built under George Washington's personal supervision, was the finest residence in the land and possibly the largest. In a nation of wooden houses, it was built of stone and ornamented with understated stone flourishes. It did not fit everyone's concept for the home of the leader of the young democracy. Abigail Adams found it cold; Thomas Jefferson thought it too big and impractical. He added gardens, a cooking stove, and storage.

Whatever one's opinion of the original design, our nation is now inseparably associated with the White House. There, the essential business of the land is conducted every day. There, our history has been made and reflected.

In this curriculum unit, students take a close look at the design of the White House and some of the changes it has undergone. They also reflect on how the “President's House” has been and continues to be used.

Guiding Questions

What process was used for choosing the initial design of the White House?

What changes were made to the exterior and why?

How does the White House differ from a presidential home such as Monticello?

How does the present-day White House reflect the duties, powers, and privileges of the office of President?

Learning Objectives

Take a stand on whether the chosen White House design or one simpler or grander would best reflect what our President's house has come to represent.

Discuss some of the changes the White House has undergone in more than two centuries.

Give specific examples demonstrating how the present-day White House reflects the duties, powers, and privileges of the office of President.

Compare and contrast Thomas Jefferson's Monticello with the White House.

Preparation Instructions

Review the curriculum unit. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.

Download the Master PDF. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.

In Lesson Three, of this unit, student groups will take virtual tours of either Monticello or the White House. Place students into appropriate groupings, covering all of the tours or just those tours best suited to your class. Some tours require more reading than others-the video tours require no reading at all; the photo essays feature reading and/or photo viewing. Students who do not get to take the White House tours as part of the group assignment might enjoy the opportunity to do so. One option would be to show the Video Tours to the entire class.

The Lessons

After completing this lesson in the unit, students will be able to take a stand on whether the chosen White House design or one simpler or grander would best reflect what our President’s house has come to represent.

After completing this lessons in the unit, students will be able to give specific examples demonstrating how the present-day White House reflects the duties, powers, and privileges of the office of President; compare and contrast Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello with the White House.

Beginning in the 9th century the Khmer empire, which was based in what is today northwestern Cambodia, began to gather power and territory in mainland Southeast Asia. It would grow to be one of the largest empires in Southeast Asian history. In this lesson, students will learn about Angkor Wat and its place in Cambodian, and Southeast Asian, history. Students will attempt to “read” the temple, in a way which resembles the reading of a primary document, to gain insight into this history.

Leonardo da Vinci—one of history’s most imaginative geniuses—was certainly born at the right time and in the right place. In this lesson plan, the students will explore Leonardo da Vinci and the age in which he lived and consider the meaning of the Greek quotation, “Man is the measure of all things” and why it particularly applies to the Renaissance and to Leonardo.

What we know about ancient civilizations comes from what those civilizations left behind. Sometimes it's a shard of pottery, part of a tool, a piece of jewelry. Archaeologists scour the earth for such remnants of ancient civilizations to piece together a picture of the past. But in Egypt there are clues to the past that are hard to miss: they're six and a half million tons, taller than the Statue of Liberty, and as wide as 10 football fields. You don't need a trowel and a brush to discover these artifacts; you can see them from space!

What Happens in the White House? (3 Lessons)

Tools

The Unit

Overview

The “President's House,” built under George Washington's personal supervision, was the finest residence in the land and possibly the largest. In a nation of wooden houses, it was built of stone and ornamented with understated stone flourishes. It did not fit everyone's concept for the home of the leader of the young democracy. Abigail Adams found it cold; Thomas Jefferson thought it too big and impractical. He added gardens, a cooking stove, and storage.

Whatever one's opinion of the original design, our nation is now inseparably associated with the White House. There, the essential business of the land is conducted every day. There, our history has been made and reflected.

In this unit, students take a close look at the White House in recent times and throughout our history.

Guiding Questions

How has the White House been touched by the great events of our nation's history?

Learning Objectives

List activities that take place at the White House.

Create a chronology of important events that have occurred at or directly affected the White House.

Preparation Instructions

Review the lesson plans. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.

Download the Master PDF. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.

Download and make one copy each of the archival images for the activities. Many images have been selected to facilitate flexibility. Use as many or as few as appropriate. Assign them to groups as best suits your class. Keep some aside, for example, for groups that finish more quickly, or use all of them to make groups as small as possible.

Prepare a place in the classroom for a History of the White House Timeline, on which you will post the images. You or your students with technical expertise may wish to create an html document with links to relevant images.

The Lessons

Ask students where the President lives. Ask where the President does most of his work. Working at home is quite common now, but Presidents have worked and lived in the White House since November 1, 1800.

Introduce the following scenario. Tell students to imagine that a previously unknown cache of images, documents, and photographs has just been discovered during some minor repairs of the White House. Because the documents were carefully wrapped and stored in the White House, we suspect that each image is related to an important or interesting event in American history that affected the White House in some way.

Call up each student group in chronological order. Students should describe their image, briefly tell the class about what their research revealed, read their caption, and post the image on your History of the White House Timeline. If desired, challenge students to find other events appropriate for the timeline.

After completing this lesson in the unit, students will be able to take a stand on whether the chosen White House design or one simpler or grander would best reflect what our President’s house has come to represent.